Thursday, June 12, 2008

Robert Heindel on Bernie Fuch's Influence

When I asked around about Robert Heindel, several people referenced Bernie Fuchs as a powerful influence on the artist's work. No one would confirm this more than Heindel himself. He also suggests that Fuchs was the impetus for his own personal growth as an artist during that first part of his career.

In David Apatoff's interview with Robert Heindel in Illustration #15, Heindel says, "Any time you worked on something and you knew Bernie was involved, you knew you had to do the very best you could possibly do. He brought that out in people."

"After you become successful like Bernie, it's inevitable that others start to copy you. Even worse, you start to copy yourself. Bernie stayed on the move. He continued to grow..."

"You think your competition is the guy you want to get the job away from that day. Then you realize that you are your competition. The job is your competion."

"When I pushed the boundaries it made my work harder to sell and drove my business partners crazy."

"You have to confront the question, "how good am I? Why can't I be better?"